Morning journal and courier., 1887-10-21

It is not generally known that Mr.. Gladstone
is not the owner of HI warden. The proper
ty belongs to his eldest son, William Henry,
who is lord Of the manor, i. e., landlord.
Strictly speaking the ex-premier is only a
guest on sutferance.
Inside the castle there is much that pro.
claims the manner of man whose home it is. |
The walls everywhere may be said to be pa |
pered with books. Even some of the lob |
bies stream with literature. And literature |
of every sort under the sun, from sacred |
scriptures, ancient parchments, Homers and |
Virgils to ponderous parliamentary reports,
the latest books of science, art, poetry, &c
ton and ephemeral publications. Though
he sold the bulk of his unique collection of
china few years ago, Mr.. Gladstone still
possesses goodly share of his pet porcelains
and many valuable pieces came to him as
gifts. His own room is chaos, with some
thing of an artistic purpose running through
the disorder Every table, chair, lounge,
shelf and bracket bears some work of art,
either portrait, bust, medallion or carv-
ing or curio of antique or modern make.
When he comes home for his holidays this
wonderful Briton simply substitutes hard
days work for hard nights work of the
parliamentary season. He dresses himself in
light tweed suit, puts on q SLOUGH hat, ties
free and easy bandanna round his still
| freer and easier collar, and away he strides
| through the garden to early morning service
| in the village church. Though it is only
/
well it is served by his younger son, Steph-
en-, whom he appointed about eighteen years
l ago. 1t is about the richest private living in
| England, producing some sixteen thousand
i dollars year.
| To see Mr.. Gladstone walk a mile on the
| turf is rich treat. Even on the streets of
| London he is about the most graceful and
| nimble pedestrian you will meet in day.
l He strides with the springy freedom of an
athlete and has all the elegant grace of
dancing master, without trace of the dan
dyism More likely than not you will see
him swinging his old hat in one hand while
| widening his collar with the other. Then in
| to breakfast, wholesome, simple English
| breakfast, which he eats with hearty relish
that is the envy of most of his juniors.
| Then until lunch at two comes work indoors,
| letters, Homer Che is always pegging away at
his Homer, the writing of magazine articles
on theology, Greek and Latin poetry, how to
| make jam, the Bulgarian question, practical
| forestry, old China, ancient Troy. Good
ness knows what Gladstone has not written,
is writing or will not write about, and al
ways as an authority too.
1 He is q most moderate eater and careful
| one at that. It was about year ago that he
| published the result of prolonged scientific
Investigation he had long been engaged in,
the result being that he pronounces it essen
tial to good digestion to take two and-thirty
distinct bites with each mouthful of food
(that is Just one bite for each tooth, if you
are lucky enough to possess full set), and
| he religiously does what he bids us to do.
| Yet he chats away the meal times with all
the easy volubility of fve-year-old spoon
feeder. Though temperate, Mr.. Gladstone is
| not teetotal. He has too much common
sense and self-control. A glass of good ale
at lunch, and a couple of glasses of some
old port at dinner, are his drinking vices,
and long may they enable the grand old man
to ''renew his youth, like the eagle"
When the season comes you will see the
man of politics and books slip out of the
house, habited in an extra seedy pair OF
/, trousers, booted in pair of indescribable
clogs that would be the envy of the man
who wants to kick his creditor to Coventry
On his head is a moldy relic of hat, on his
shoulder rests a mighty axe, and evil is IN
his eagle eye. Behold The axe will soon
be laid at the root of the tree and another
| giant will soon lie low.
The Liberal Clubs of Lancashire and
Cheshire often invite themselves to picnic in
Hawarden Park, but permission is rarer thar
it used to be. The merrymakers always in
sisted upon speech until the thing became
| a nuisance. But the working folk from the
country side are welcomed occasionally, anc
the farmers gather to pay their rents and cal
the good fare provided by their landlord
| and then Mr. Gladstone doesn't mind treat
ing them to bit of homely oratory, gene
rally instructing them how to make bigger
, | incomes by growing more fruit for jam OF
tickling their hen to send more eggs TO mar
| ket.
) So the days and the years roll around and
the grand old specimen Of English manhood
ripens into the harvest. His hairs are scan
tier and his wrinkles more than they were
\ last year, but the glow in that brilliant eye
and the fire Stacks not in his heart Come
, from the Hawarden home, with its reign o.
peace and its halo of glory around the loving
7 Preside circle, come to the place where thou
sands strive for the prize of seeing and hear
} ing Gladstone the orator, Gladstone the ma
, gician, who charms the people. I recall the
greatest assemblage he or probably any othel
man ever addressed by the hour together
and held them riveted. That was at Biz
mingham ten years ago, when thirty-three
> thousand men gathered in the cattle show
, hall and greeted Gladstone as though he
were king.
,, The pale face, nervously compressed lipt
and intensely nervous expression would
strike the audience as betokening physical
weakness, but the flashing, piercing eyes
kindle everyone with the contagious fire Of
enthusiasm. His rich, sonorous voice soor
reaches the outer fringe of the multitude
and in a few moments the feeling is that o.
being completely under the spell of wizard
in the arts of speech.